The Parc de la Villette was developed as part of an urban renewal plan on the site the former national meat market and slaughterhouse. Tschumi won a competition for the design of Paris' largest park in 1982. Related to his theoretical work on 'event space', his proposal for a distinctly urban park called for the deployment of a number of abstract, programless structures, dubbed 'follies'. It was intended that the bright red structures would then house various events and groups related to the activities of the park. Many do just that, but not all, and not always the activities envisaged. The design questions the conventional conception of a park as green open space. While there is plenty of grass here, the 'natural' park is clearly designed to express the fact that it is artificial, domesticated. Several thematic gardens are incorporated into the scheme, offering places of discovery and unexpected encounters and juxtapositions between seemingly natural and man-made artifacts. Source: www.galinsky.com/buildings/villette/